Congratulations! Finally
by Amy Elizabeth
Summary: DH Spoilers. A quiet ceremony doesn't mean you can't have a little celebration. The Burrow throws a suprise reception for Remus and Tonks' wedding, though it takes Ron quite a while to figure it out. Ron's POV. LIghthearted Fun, again. RLNT


**Congratulations! Finally!**

**By: **Amy Elizabeth

**Disclaimer: **All things _Harry Potter _are sole property of J.K. Rowling

**Rating/Warning: **DH Spoilers, PG

**A/N: **For some reason, I like writing through Ron.

……………………………

The Burrow was clean. _Very _clean.

Before Molly and Arthur Weasley had left their home to run some sudden, important errand that morning; they had made a very detailed list of chores to be completed prior to their return. All the piles of laundry that had been collecting near the base of the stairs, much to his mother's displeasure, since the end of the school term, had been forcibly moved upstairs, folded, and put away. The twins had been put in charge of clearing the garden, washing the windows, and some project that had had them hidden in their room for over an hour. Ginny had spent most of the morning scrubbing floors and dusting down surfaces. All of Molly Weasley's knitting supplies were stashed inside of cabinets, all of the magazines and papers had been filed, and the wooden table in the kitchen had been scoured and enlarged.

And as Ron scrubbed the last of the soot from the hearth of the fireplace, he decided that he hated it.

Hermione had once said she liked the Burrow because it looked _lived in. _Of course when _she_ had said it, it was with that tone she got when she was being purposefully polite; but Ron had agreed with her anyway. He liked the comfortable, cluttered feeling of the Burrow.

And it wasn't just because he hated cleaning.

Though he did hate it. _A lot. _

"You make a rather ugly Cinderella, Ron."

"Ow!" Ron cursed aloud as his head made contact with the bookshelf of cookbooks above the hearth, "Don't sneak up on me, Hermione." He rubbed the sore spot on his head as he glared back at her grin, "What are you doinghere?"

Her grin faded as she gave an annoyed roll of her eyes, "That is a _lovely_ way to say 'hello', Ronald. I am so_ happy _to see…"

He cut her off, "Cinderella? Who is that?"

Hermione let out a long suffering sigh, the kind that made Ron experience an interesting combination of amusement and annoyance, "It's a Muggle story, Ron. Its about a girl who has to clean up after…"

"Hermione!" Ginny's disembodied voice echoed doorway of the narrow staircase. She grinned as she became visible, "I'm so glad you made it! Aren't you excited?"

Ron wasn't sure how he had missed his sister leaving from cleaning the kitchen.

_Probably was when I had half my body stuck up this bloody furnace scrubbing…_

She was wearing a dress. A really nice dress. Ron suddenly took a good look at Hermione.

She was in a dress too. And her hair was done like she had had it at that Yule Ball…

"What's going on?" Ron's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You look nice…"

Ginny brushed past her brother to take a seat, "Leave it to you, Ron, to sound like an idiot making a compliment."

His retort was cut off by Hermione's equally suspicious look, "You don't know what's going on, Ron?"

He suddenly felt a little lost, "No."

"So you've just been cleaning all day for…"

"I thought Mum was off her rocker…what was it the Muggles call it…"

"Spring cleaning." Hermione supplied, a slow smile spreading across her face, "But its summer, Ron."

"I _know _that, Hermione. I just figured…" he was growing exasperated, "Well, I know some of the Order members are coming over, but I didn't think _that _was anything to be excited about. I mean, I know it's been a little while, but they've been wanting to talk about getting Harry out of his Aunt and Uncles'…" He glared at the smiles that were passing between the two girls, "_Fine, then._ What is it?"

Another secretive smile, "We're not telling, Ron. If you haven't figured it out yet, then you'll have to find out later."

_Bloody girls and their stupid…_

"Wait." He looked between them, "You mean you two '_figured it out' _then? You weren't _told?_" He felt satisfied at their silence, "So you don't really _know_._" _ A slightly abashed look graced Ginny's face and Ron felt a small surge of triumph.

"We didn't need to be _told, _Ronald. Anyone with any sense could guess what's going on."

Sometimes Hermione Granger was really, really good at taking the wind out of his sails.

The abashed look fled his sister's face, "Right. And since you can't; you'll just have to wait."

Hermione gestured to his filthy sweater, "Though I think you should change into something a little more presentable."

Ron looked down at the now black sweater and rubbed at his eyes, grimacing as he smeared soot further across his face.

_I hate cleaning. _

………………………………………….

Ron had been expecting people to trickle into the Burrow, as they always had when meetings had been at Grimmauld Place. At the very least he had expected that his parents would have arrived home well before their guests.

He had been wrong.

His mother burst through the door, a large smile growing larger as she took in her house, "It's as good as I could have hoped, I suppose! Fred! George!" She brushed past Ron, somehow managing to straighten his freshly donned sweater as she passed.

Suddenly, Fred and George appeared in the kitchen, "We're all ready, Mum."

"All the best decorations Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes can offer." George winked at Ginny and Hermione, "At least on such short notice."

Ron looked around the spotless room. _Decorations? _

An instant and a loud pop later the room dripped in pink and gold balloons, streamers, and gently glowing lights.

"Wonderful!" His mother's cry broke through Ginny and Hermione's excited murmurs.

Ron, confused, swatted a glittering balloon out of his way.

"One more, Mum." A large banner reading '_Congratulations! Finally!' _hung itself over where Fred's wand was pointing at Ron's clean hearth.

His mother's face suddenly turned red, "_Finally? _Take that off this _minute, you two! _People will be here…"

Immediantly, apparently. His mother's protest to the final decoration was cut off by his father's face peeking through the cracked front door, "Can we all come in now, Molly?"

With one last glare at the grinning twins, his mother nodded quickly.

"Any ideas now, Ron?" Ginny and Hermione had moved to sit next to him at the table as the adults began to file in.

Ron could do nothing but glare at his sister.

_What kind of Order meeting is this? _He looked at Kingsley and Mad-Eye talking with his father by the bottles of butterbeer his mother was placing on the edge of a smaller table she had conjured. Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle, who Ron hadn't seen much since Grimmauld, had joined the twins in setting out plates of food.

_Where the devil did those come from?_

Ron looked quickly around the room, "Where are Bill and Fleur?"

Hermione made a non-committal noise, "I'm sure they're coming."

As if on cue as silver flash burst through the wall, Bill's voice emanating softly from the hawk's mouth, "We've been successful, they'll be joining us _for a drink_."

As the Patronus disappeared a flurry of activity erupted around the room. His mother led the group, shooing everyone into the kitchen, right behind the front door.

As Ron let himself be dragged by Hermione over to the group she whispered, "Now?"

"Someone important is coming for a drink." He shot a unsettled glance at the banner, "Someone who needs to be congratulated." He then looked at the huddled group around him, "And ambushed, I suppose."

"Absolutely hopeless." That was from George, who was positioned directly behind him.

"Shut-up, George." Was he the only one who _didn't _know what they were up to?

Wait. Where was Tonks? If any of them _couldn't _keep a secret, it was her. She would tell him what was going on.

He craned his neck to all sides, standing on tiptoes to see behind and around the group. She wasn't by Mad-Eye or Kingsley. She must be by Lupin.

Lupin. Where was he?

"Hermione…" He was interrupted shush from his mother, who was by his father, directly by the door.

"Hermione," He whispered, poking her gently on the shoulder to get her attention, "Where are Tonks and Lupin? Tonks'll tell me what's going on…"

"Hush, Ronald!"

_Well. If _that _wasn't just so polite…_

"It's just a drink, you two." Bill's voice could be heard through the door, most likely because of some charm the twins had placed on it, "I know you are itching to get out of here but Mum would be devastated if she could throw you _some _sort of celebration."

"Though, some day soon, you will need to have a _proper_ reception." Fleur's clipped accent seemed to be close behind.

"We'll be fine with this drink, thank you." _There _was Lupin. But what had hedone to get a party?

And where was Tonks, the one time he needed her?

"I'm more excited about the honeymoon. If we could have two of _those_ I wouldn't mind."

_Tonks? Why was she talking about honeymoons? Didn't honeymoons usually mean you had had a wedding?_

The door creaked open, Bill leading the small group inside, and suddenly Ron was almost trampled by the movement behind him as everyone rushed forward.

However, it was Tonks that ended up falling. The shock of a chorus of "Congratulations" that had erupted the moment she and Lupin had crossed the threshold had frightened her into losing her balance. With a small yelp of surprise, she was on the floor. Ron was suddenly glad that Ginny had cleaned; otherwise that white dress would have gotten dirty…

_White dress?_ _Why is Tonks in a dress?_

Laughing, Lupin stooped to lift Tonks back to her feet. Though Ron had seen him do the exact same thing on a million occasions in the time he had known them; something was different. For one, he hadn't let her go yet; though she was obviously once again steady on her feet.

In fact, he was kissing her.

Much to the delight of everyone else in the room.

Ron had, of course, _known_ that Professor Lupin had been dating the young Auror since Dumbledore's funeral. In fact, according to what he had been able to decipher from his Mum, Ginny, and Hermione, it had started a long time before that. But he had never, _ever _seen them kiss. Not that he minded that he hadn't. In fact, he had never known until right now how happy he had been with that arrangement.

"Thank you, all, but this wasn't necessary." Relinquishing the vise-like grip he had on Tonks, but still keeping his arm around her waist, Lupin blushed and grinned at the praise from the congregated group while accepting a butterbeer from Bill. The adults scattered away from the couple around the room, mingling and picking at the food.

"Of course it was!" His mother waved her hands at him in a gesture Ron hoped Lupin knew meant: _'don't argue about it'_, "It might have had to be quiet, but we can still have a small celebration. Though I am sorry about that banner." She sent a small glare at the twins.

"What banner?" Tonks, seemingly recovered from her surprise, looked at where Molly pointed and promptly almost fell again, laughing. "Can I take that? It's _priceless._" She elbowed Lupin, "I think I'll hang it over the bed."

Ron didn't think he had heard Lupin laugh that loudly before.

"Of course you can!" Fred jumped in, "I'll send it over to your house, consider it our gift."

_Gift? They haven't given _me _anything lately. Not even that old poster in their room. _

Tonks grinned at the twins before letting go of Lupin to pull Ginny and Hermione into a hug, "So, I hear you figured out our secret." She pulled back to grin at them, "Sorry you couldn't come, girls, we decided it would be safer if just a few people were there."

Ginny shot a glance at her mother, who had moved on to bring in more food, and whispered, "It was pretty hard to not figure it out with all the planning going on here."

Hermione shot a shy look at the two of them, "I couldn't resist coming to this at least. We were so excited."

Lupin gave her a kind pat on the shoulder, "We are happy you could, Hermione."

Ginny glanced over her shoulder, "Weren't _you_ excited, Ron?"

Suddenly, he realized he hadn't moved from behind the door. He considered grabbing his wand to hex his sister.

"Yea, I was." He mumbled instead.

There was Hermione's sigh again, "Honestly. You _still _don't know what's going on?"

Both Tonks' and Lupin's eyebrows shot up.

"Absolutely bloody hopeless."

"Shut-up, George." Ron shoved his hands into his trousers, acutely uncomfortable under all their gazes, "I mean, all I can think is that you two got married or something. But since I know that's not what it is…"

A snort from Tonks cut him off.

"We did, in fact, do just that, Ron." Lupin's voice fairly shook with amusement.

_Oh. _

"He did get it! At least we know he's not completely incompetent."

"Shut-up, Fred." Ron felt his stomach drop. The heat in his cheeks crept down his neck and under his collar. He avoided looking directly at the couple, "I mean, it's not that…" He stuttered under Hermione's reproachful glare, "You weren't even _engaged." _He paused, uncertain, "Were you?"

"Not publicly." Lupin took Tonks' hand, "But we've been planning on a wedding for a little while now."

"We kept it very quite, Ron, so don't worry about it." Tonks squeezed Lupin's hand, "Even _I _kept it a secret."

Ron shifted from foot to foot, eager to be finished with this conversation, "Well, it _is _exciting, then. Congratulations." Ginny and Hermione's huffs expressed their dissatisfaction the delivery of his sentiment but Tonks and Lupin seemed satisfied.

"Thank you, Ron." Lupin looked across the room, "We should go and talk to Mad-Eye, Dora. He'll want to know the security details for the honeymoon."

Tonks rolled her eyes back at the kids as she followed Lupin across the kitchen, "As long as those are _all _the details he knows. Since I plan on doing things with you that are _very, very _private."

Ron was sure she thought she was out of earshot for that last comment.

He fervently wished she had been.


End file.
